Our 2nd day in Lagos

Our first stop was a brunch for the staff at Carrie's school (and us). Everyone here has a steward who cooks, cleans, does laundry & irons and all of the stewards prepared delicious food for the brunch. There was also a gift exchange and the rule was that the gift had to come from the "go slow," which is where vendors sell goods where the traffic is so bad that you can't help but "go slow." Most of the gifts were amusing or painfully tacky but a couple were useful such as a knife set or pajamas. I won a red blow up clifford dog and gum that melts in your mouth.

From there we left for the Lekki market. I wish everyone could experience traffic here. A British lady I met last night summed it up when she said, "there isn't anything to go and see here, but you see many unusual things everywhere you go." It is not like being stuck on I-5. There aren't any traffic lights (ok, there is 1 in Lagos), rules or regulations and driving on the sidewalk is normal (even if you are only 1/2 on the sidewalk). The holes in the road make for scarey obstacles, we see people arguing with the police and we aren't quite sure why and we've seen intense arguments that take place after small fender benders. I'm not sure car insurance really comes into play here. We've seen a scarey van with a mean looking guy in a bullet proof helmet with an AK-47 and a t-shirt that said "Anti-Robbery." We aren't quite sure who he works for... It is an adventure in itself to try to get from point A to point B. We've been to this market twice now - the first time it took us 2 hours to get there and the second trip took us 10 minutes.
We were greeted at the market by a swarm of "boys." Since unemployment is so high here the people get creative and make jobs for themselves. Some people claim streets or parking lots and then charge you to park there. At the market these boys' "job" is to walk with you at the market and tell other people not to bug you. They also carry your purchases, help you find your friends, load your car, help you find what you are looking for and are even sort of helpful about telling you what things should cost. The market is pretty big, very hot and dirty so having a little buddy to help us find what we are looking for and telling people to back off was definitely worth a few of bucks! We've been to markets all over the world and would gladly have paid to have a little buddy make our shopping experience less stressful and more enjoyable. We hope this catches on in other parts of the world.
We picked up a few things we think are cool at the market. A few paintings, of course, some wood carvings, which we'll put in Carrie's freezer to make sure the termites (if there are any) are dead and a couple of other random things. We've all heard of the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkeys, right? Well here there is a 4th monkey - "do no evil" and it is a monkey with both hands over his penis. Carrie thinks they added an extra monkey to make more money...sneaky! TJ found 2 VERY UGLY wood carvings of huge heads but I had to veto them because they were sooooo ugly. Carrie even refused to keep them at her place until her container is sent. That night Carrie and I went to another going away party for her friend in the Marines who is being transferred to S. Korea. The party was at "The Piano Bar," which is owned by a Lebanese dude. Carrie said he never lets her or the Marines pay so she was curious how he made any money. His restuarant/bar also took a hit after a group of armed people stormed the place, made everyone lay on the floor while they robbed them and left. The bar was full of consulate employees that night and they were forbidden to return for two months. I chatted with the owner, Shalim, for awhile that night and told me his primary business is catering and he serves 30,000 meals every day to oil company workers. That explains it! Shalim hosted drinks and dinner for everyone that night, provided entertainment and opened up his dance floor. There is something not quite right about a Nigerian jazz singer belting out "YMCA." We all had a great time!

Day 2 ended with a ride home in the Marine's vehicle. It's nice to feel the benefits of tax payer dollars!

Another update coming soon!